Extremely New to Linux.
 

Hello All. I am extremely new to linux, this being my first machine. I would like to setup a web server using Red Hat 5. I already have it installed and now I need help with configuration. Is it possible to do a remote desktop like windows?

Welcome to LQ.

Strictly speaking, Remote Desktop is a Windows protocol that you can use with a Windows server only, though you can install open source RDP *clients* on Linux.

What are you thinking about when you say Remote Desktop, in other words what are the functions or features you need or wish ?

PS Next time find a more useful title: as it is, it doesn't say anything about your issue.

Thank you for a quick response. I am at a windows based machine and I would like to connect to my newly installed linux machine from my windows machine. Sorry that sounds counfusing. I don't want to sit infront my linux machine. I installed the real vnc but can't figure out how to start it.

So I suppose the two machines are on the same local network.

If this is the case, it still depend on what you want to be able to do from your Windows machine.

If you want to be able to:
- administrate your Linux machine, set up a ssh (server) on it,
- share files with your Linux machine, install Samba on it,
- access the web server on your Linux machine, install e.g. Apache on it
- ...

Thank you. Can you give a brief description on how I would go about install these options on my server?

Hi,
If you want to connect to the GNU/Linux machine you could use 'putty'. A good tool to use whenever you must be on a M$ based machine and need to really get some work done on a GNU/Linux machine. :)

This link and others are available from 'Slackware-Links' . More than just Slackware® links!

I am sorry but the answer is no. You will have to dive into the documentation for your distribution, look at the available resources on the Internet as some "how-to", and read the "man" pages for the relevant commands.

But I suggest you first familiarize yourself with your system; setting up these applications in an effective and safe manner is not trivial.

RDP no, that is a Microsoft patented protocol, however you can use VNC, just install vncserver on your server via the command "yum install vnc-server", you will need root permissions to do this.

To connect to this you will likely either have to open the port on your firewall or use an SSH tunnel to bypass the iptables firewall. The SSH tunnel would be the far more secure method as VNC defaults to no encryption which is dreadfully unsecure as even login details are unencrypted in this method. To create an SSH tunnel in windows to a linux server, "putty" would serve the best method to achieve this. Most if not all VNC clients also offer a method of encryption which you can enforce should you not want to use SSH tunnels but this still requires the port to be opened on IPtables (ports are 59xx starting at 01 for display 1)

VNC may also require some minor configuration to default to load a window manager like gnome or kde but this is an effective way to get something similar to Remote Desktop for Windows. If you wish to go down this path I might be able to dig out a guide or two on more details paths of how to achieve this.

Alternatively if your just after a basic shell, as stated above, Putty will handle by creating an SSH connection to your server. RHEL defaults to having SSH enabled and it's port opened within the iptables firewall.

How do I get root permissions? I am the only user setup.

If you are logged in as root then you automatically have root permissions. Alternatively their is sudo (super-user do) if your user is set-up for it. Generally it's advised to not directly login as root. If you are doing this, create a secondary user and then give it sudo permissions in the /etc/sudoers file. The one disadvantage to not using root is that some tools are in /sbin/ only by default which means you have to do /sbin/program but this is safer, personally for things I use alot I create symlinks in /bin to their /sbin counter part.

To install packages, use the menu option
Applications -> Add/Remove software
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...hical-rpm.html
if you have installed the GUI. If not, you can achieve the same thing using the 'yum' command at the cmd line.

This doesn't have anything to do with remote desktop, but your OP indicated you needed help with getting apache (?) configured... so I suggest you install webmin (web interface to assist with administration) and use that to help you configure the various services you wish to run.

You might consider installing cygwin/X on your windows machine. This will allow you to log into the server, and run graphical wizards remotely, even if the server isn't running in graphical mode. The X server is located on the terminal (your windows machine). The application is an X client. Run "startxwin" in the bash shell, then simply log in like "ssh -X user@hostname". Now you can start a graphical app and it will show up on your windows machine. Ssh handles configuring your DISPLAY variable, and other things needed to display the app remotely.

For servers, it is generally safer to have as little installed and running as possible. This means not running the server in the graphical mode. If you follow this advice, the tightVNC or a remote desktop app may not work.